The House of Cthulhu: Tales of the Primal Land Vol. 1

Tales of the Primal Land #1

by Brian Lumley

The House of Cthulhu introduces the weird and wonderful world of Theem'hdra, an island continent of wonders and terrors, where brave men die terrifying deaths, awe-inspiring sorcerers hurl powerful magic at each other, and monsters abound. This is classic Lovecraftian horror from one of the masters of the form, British Fantasy Award-winner Brian Lumley.
The volcanic eruption that created the island of Surtsey in 1967 also revealed a long hidden cache of documents that told the fantastic history of Theem'hdra as written by the sorcerer Teh Atht. Building on translations begun by the scholar Thelred Gustau-who vanished under mysterious, some say magical, circumstances-Brian Lumley brings the saga of the Primal Land to readers of today.
Here, the wizard Mylarkhrion-most powerful of the terrible magicians who walked the earth in those long-ago days-battles sorcerers jealous of his knowledge, power, and wealth. His own apprentice, thinking he knows all of his master's secrets, challenges him-but Mylarkhrion has one final trick up his sleeve . . . . When the assassin Humbuss Ank, who specializes in killing wizards, makes Mylarkhrion his target, he avoids or destroys nearly all of the sorcerer's traps, forcing Mylarkhrion to a final, desperate gamble for survival. But even Mylarkhrion has a weakness, a lust for power that drives him to summon the Great One, Cthulhu, and so call doom upon himself!
The fabled riches of the House of Cthulhu draw thieves and warriors from throughout the civilized-and uncivilized lands, but none escape with so much as a single gemstone, for they discover that Cthulhu's House is not a temple but a dwelling-place. Surely the Elder God lives there still, waiting for an unwary person to open the portal between his world and ours . . . .

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraftian, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Weird Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Brian Lumley was born near Newcastle. In 22 years as a Military Policeman he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin, as well as Cyprus in partition days. He reached the rank of Sergeant-Major before retiring to Devon to write full-time, and his work was first published in 1970. The vampire series, 'Necroscope', has been translated into ten languages and sold over a million copies worldwide.

He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being that I've been a huge Brian Lumley fan since I was a teenager, and the same for Lovecraft's old gods, (minus all the racism), so when I was offered this audiobook for review, I accepted and here we are!

On the whole, I found these to be more Sword & Sorcery type tales than Lovecraftian, but I was okay with that. Listening to these tales was a nostalgic experience for me. I remember first being introduced to worlds like this growing up...through all the magical pages I could get my hands on. Pulp stuff, sword and sorcery, dragons and knights, dark jungles and all new planets. I've since moved on from a lot of that, but only in regards to more contemporary works, not the enjoyment of the tales.

As an adult, listening to these tales instead of reading them, it lent an entire new level to my enjoyment. Listening to these is like sitting by the fire with an old friend, trading stories late into the night. Come visit the House of Cthulhu! Let an old friend tell you a story!

3.5/5 stars, rounded up to 4 by the sheer enjoyment factor.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 4 out of 5]

What shall we say of that continent at the dawn of time, in the first 'civilised' Age of Man? Its inhabitants called it Theem'hdra, which is a name beyond translation; but how may we, looking back into the bottomless abyss of the past, name or classify a landmass which must, by now, have been above and below great oceans many times, returning in the main to its individual rocks and pebbles, and those in their cycle to finely sifted sands? Atlantis by comparison was yesterday . . .

This passage is from the in-character introduction to a collection of stories of beyond-antiquity unearthed by researcher Thelred Gustau who, unable to prove the authenticity of the documents, turned to "my good friend and collaborator Brian Lumley" to present the legends as modern fiction.

Continuing my deep dive in Lumley's Cthulhu Mythos fiction, I have reached this collection of stories set far back in Earth's time. First, I have a little photo essay to share.

I present my Houses of Cthulhu:



The three editions I own differ notably. The earliest, published in 1984 by Weirdbook Press, is the oddest. It's a 8.5" x 11" softcover by a niche printer of a type I'm not sure exists any more. It seems unwieldy to read given its width, with each page split into two columns of type, newspaper style, but the space is also used marvellously to feature some wonderful illustrations by Jim Pitts.



I imagine the format was used to reduce printing costs, as it uses a standard office paper size. I had to go into collector mode to obtain this. I'm happy that it's signed:



I'm less happy at how poorly it fits with other books on a shelf; I keep mine in a magazine box with some slim hardbound picture book-sized works. But I have no regrets about buying it, because it contains stories that the later editions of this collection do not.

The 1984 Weirdbook edition's table of contents:

Introduction
The Sorcerer's Book
How Kank Thad Returned to Bhur-Esh
The House of Cthulhu
Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita
Mylakhrion the Immortal
Isles of the Suhm-Yi
Lords of the Morass
Curse of the Golden Guardians
Cryptically Yours
The Wine of the Wizard
The Sorcerer's Dream

The 1991 reprint's table of contents:

Introduction
How Kank Thad Returned to Bhur-Esh
The Sorcerer's Book
The House of Cthulhu
Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita
To Kill a Wizard!
Cryptically Yours
Mylakhrion the Immortal
Lords of the Morass
The Wine of the Wizard
The Sorcerer's Dream

Why the later edition omitted Isles of the Suhm-Yi and Curse of the Golden Guardians, added To Kill a Wizard!, and rearranged the remaining stories, I cannot yet say. If the textual experience differs notably when I read them later, I will report back. [This is me reporting back: there's no significant difference in reading experience between the two story orders.]

My other editions in the first photo are the 1991 UK mass-market paperback by Headline Book Publishing and the 1991 US hardcover by TOR. Aside from the story choices, only the Weirdbook edition carries this map:



But the TOR edition outdoes it with this new one:



The paperback has no map.

I will review the stories as I read them in original publication order, which for some predates the collections.

The House of Cthulhu: First published in 1973 in Whispers magazine. Remember when sailors went to R'lyeh and Cthulhu briefly came out and then R'lyeh sunk? Apparently this also happened millions of years earlier. Definitely derivative but Lumley seems to be having fun with it. The prose style is notably different from Lumley's earlier stories (see The Caller of the Black). It's not at all close to Lovecraft's style, but it's definitely more fanciful than Lumley's usual.

Came the scrape of keel on grit, and down from his dragon's head leapt Zar-thule to the sullen shallow waters, and with him his captains and men, to wade ashore and stride the night-black strand and wave their swords ... and all for naught! Lo, the island stood quiet and still and seemingly untended ...

It's more like R.E. Howard but still not close to that either. I don't know if the later stories in the collection that draws its name from this story will have the same tone—this was published over a decade earlier—but we shall see.

Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita: First published in 1976 in Fantastic magazine. If you didn't know you were in 1970s fantasy territory, the onslaught of worldbuilding in the opening will seal it:

Now Tharquest the wandering Klühnite, riding hard from Eyphra in the West where he had angered the High Priest of the Dark Temple of Ghatanothoa by getting his lately-virgin daughter with child, came over the Mountains of Lohmi and spied the once-gilded spires and great walls of Chlangi. Even crumbling Chlangi, which is called the Shunned City.

It's a fair sword and sorcery tale of hubris, as Tharquest thinks to resist the Lamia's efforts at seduction in order to claim her treasure. The setting is standard for the Conan pastiches of yore: lawless, brutal, where women exist only as prostitutes or nubile maidens, but thinking only with your dick is a likely recipe for disaster.

How Kank Thad Returned to Bhur-Esh: First published in 1977 in Fantastic magazine. Appearing either first or second in the collection, it quickly sets a tone by which the reader can judge if they might wish to continue. It reveals Lumley playing with some purple prose, goofy dialogue tags, and some ribaldry. The titular Kank Thad is not at all a Conan stand-in except in his "mighty thews" and general brashness; he is not intended as any type of noble barbarian. I wondered at the story's outset if he's a prototype for Lumley's later Tarra Khash: Hrossak! but if memory serves, that one is more clearly Conan-like. In any case, the story's final line is an amusing twist on the title.

Mylakhrion the Immortal: First published in 1977 in Fantasy Tales magazine. In which the wizard Teh Atht converses with the specter of his ancestor and once-supreme magic-wielder Mylakhrion, in search of secrets of immortality. The answer invokes Cthulhu who, thanks to the placement of The House of Cthulhu earlier in all editions, has already been established as extant in this ancient timeline. The story is notable to me for introducing "to gloom" as a verb that produces speech.

'There is but one question of ultimate importance to men,' gloomed Mylakhrion.
[. . .]
'There is no such future for you, Teh Atht!' he immediately gloomed, voice deeply sunken and ominous.

You know how you're always glooming words, yeah?

Cryptically Yours: First published in 1977 in Escape. In the original collection edition it comes after Mylakhrion the Immortal but in the later ones this is reversed. I think it works best the first way, with Teh Atht the wizard being already established, as well as his relation to Mylakhrion which is mentioned again here. The story takes the form of an exchange of letters between frenemies, each signed off elaborately, in the style of old which may be best recognized contemporarily from Hamilton's "Your Obedient Servant". It's not a particularly good story and is entirely predictable, but it's passable.

The Sorceror's Dream: Published in Whispers magazine in 1979, is a very short account from Teh Atht about his dream journeys to witness the beginning and end of time, which is bookended by, of course, Cthulhu. It essentially summarizes all those stories published earlier (excepting Kank Thad which bears no mention) and caps the collection. It appears last in both editions, and it suits in that position.

Introduction: Finally, I catch up with the publication of this collection and its original content. I mentioned the fictional introduction, in which Gustau, the discoverer of a trove of beyond-ancient records and artifacts passes his translations on to Lumley to present as fiction. This is followed by Lumley's summary of Theem'hdra's geography and some of the stories contained herein, followed by a brief pastiche account of Gustau's final fate, at least what can be determined of it with the scant evidence and witness reports left behind ...

The Sorceror's Book: This story has a pleasant classic tone to it, and is a clear improvement in writing style over the written-earlier-but-presented-next-in-this-collection The House of Cthulhu. It has positive, pro-social themes that set the collection up nicely with a bit of heroic fantasy, rather than the villainous maladventures of the written-earlier-but-presented-next-in-this-collection trio of stories that follow. It seems Mylakhrion, ancient wizard in search of immortality as he is, wasn't such a bad guy.

Isles of the Suhm-Yi: Tarra Khash: Hrossak! I'll never get tired of saying that. This story introduces Tarra Khash, Lumley's interpretation of Conan, a principled and intelligent barbarian, or steppesman rather, unlike Theem'hdra's more savage and frothing northern barbarians. The next books in the 'Primal Lands' series, which was not considered a series until the later version of this collection, star the very same Tarra Khash: Hrossak! in novel-length adventures. This story was omitted from the later edition; I wonder if it's instead transported into the sequels? In any case, it's a formidable story, a worthy Robert E. Howard pastiche. It could have used just a touch more development at the end in the climactic sequence of events, but I found it delightful throughout.

Lords of the Morass: Another excellent horror fantasy tale, this one of exploring unknown lands and discovering new peoples and bizarre monsters. I was reminded very much of H. Rider Haggard's stories. At this point I'm deeply impressed with Lumley's ability to craft this type of story. The lords of the morass are giant slugs. Panning for gold appears to be a regular activity in Theem'hdra, although it tends to produce greed and thus lead to disaster.

Curse of the Golden Guardians: A second story featuring Tarra Khash: Hrossak! and the third of the meatiest stories to appear in this collection.

I now realize why Isles of the Suhm-Yi and Curse of the Golden Guardians were removed from the later version of this collection: they were instead inserted into Tarra Khash: Hrossak!: Tales of the Primal Land, since they both feature that particular hero, when this book grew to become part of a series. To Kill a Wizard! must have been inserted to make up for the lost page count.

The Wine of the Wizard: Particularly after the preceding three excellent stories, this was a disappointment, being merely passable. The links to its framing story, which attempt to link the story further to the collection's framing story, were weak. The story at its center had nothing to do with the titular wine, for one thing.

In the original edition, the book closed out with the short The Sorceror's Dream followed by a jovial biography of Lumley inside the back cover.

To Kill a Wizard!: By 1988 Lumley had apparently still not outgrown his love of placing exclamation marks in titles. This was published (in an anthology also from Weirdbook press) in between the Weirdbook edition and the later 1991 "Primal Lands" series re-issue, into which it was added. It's not great. It felt like Lumley was phoning it in on some level. The story is rather silly in many places, like making the words to a counterspell "eat my butt" backwards. All it really has going for it is that it ties into The Sorceror's Book.

Overall, it's an enjoyable collection with only a couple of duds. The stories were written over the span of a decade, during which Lumley's style clearly evolved, but the stories are not presented in writing order so the quality goes up and down. The stories that don't specifically mention Cthulhu don't have a Mythos feel to them, which is fine. They're casual, pulp fantasy adventure stories with occasional horror moments, more sword & sorcery than anything else, in a setting of Lumley's creation but clearly inspired by R.E. Howard and others. It's not necessary to read this book before the next ones in the Primal Lands series because the next ones solely feature Tarra Khash (who was removed from this collection for the much more widely available 1991 reissue).

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Lumley's sword & sorcery short stories that originally appeared primarily in Weirdbook Magazine, primarily in the 1970s and 1980s. As you'd expect from the author and the publication source, the stories are very much in the 1930s Weird Tales vein -- specifically, I was getting a bit of a Clark Ashton Smith vibe from these.

The stories are mostly standalone, with a few characters in the background providing linkages. They take place on the extremely primal continent of Theem'hdra, which, like Smith's Zothique is a single, world-spanning supercontinent that, like Smith's Hyperborea, existed untold millions of years in the past (before Pangea, even) -- we're even given a bit of a framing story about how one Theldred Gustau discovered a cache of impossibly old manuscripts (spat, in a box, from a volcano), which he then "translated" to provide the stories at hand.

Also like Smith, many of these stories are not ones that have happy endings. (Helpful hint: DO NOT visit any place called the "House of Cthulhu".)

Lumley doesn't have Smith's command of language, or his gift at creating fantasy names (one recurring wizard is named Teh Atht, for example), but these are generally enjoyable stories and a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

[Gregory Mele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a big fan of Lumley's more fantastical, "heroic" take on the Mythos, but here, where he does Lovecraft-ala-Clark Aston Smith, it worked really well. Some clever, creepy and outright funny tales set on a lost continent remeniscent of Smith's Hyperborea and Zothique. Two more volumes to go...

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories written prior to 1980 or so tried to be both Robert E Howard muscular and Clark Ashton Smith extravagant. The result is not lean enough to be the first and not purely stylistic or ironic as the second. And he sure loves his twist endings and framing devices, even when these are really unnecessary or obvious.

The best are the Mylakhrion or Tet Atht stories, in particular "The Sorcerer's Book" and "To Kill A Wizard!", adding to that "The Wine of the Wizard".

(On the other end was "Lords of the Morass", which went the Merritt / Haggard route and was entirely too long for its payoff.)

I've heard Lumley described as having a more 'muscular' take on the Lovecraft material, casting it in a more adventurous mode and dispensing with the mind-blasting, paralyzing horror that afflicted most Lovecraft protagonists. His version of the Mythos features the late-model benevolent Elder Gods who keep Cthulhu in check, and a Cthulhu with comprehensible motivations and behavior, which I feel is a diminishment of the original material, even if it is shorn of Lovecraft's excesses and personal failings.

[Chris Healey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different tone to the Lumley I know from the Necroscope saga, this sword & sorcery style series of stories felt a bit whimsical & defanged. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, these were decent enough adventure stories with some interesting settings & situations. I particularly enjoyed the one set in the jungle where the prospectors are held hostage by a pigmy tribe worshipping giant slugs. The magic in the other stories was a bit high for me. Nice to have Joshua Saxon narrating again. He always does a good job & is by now synonymous with Lumleys writing.

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very dissapointed by this book. I was expecting less of a cheap Conan knock-off and more of a cheap Lovecraft knock-off. Instead I got a fish with wings that couldnt swim or fly.

[Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜]

I have this book in my room and have read the back. It gives away the plot of the whole book instead of summarizing it. I'm not sure if I feel a need to read this.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Lumley channeling Clark Ashton Smith

The (recently) late Brian Lumley's works have been a kind of comfort food for me over the years, and this collection is not different.
His Primal Land stories are like a mix of Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea/Poseidonis/Zothique stories, and Robert E. Howard's Kull stories, with a bit of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser thrown in.
The primary characters are all fearsome sorcerer's and cunning rogues, the lands and peoples are strange, and everything is filled with bizarre magic.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to read some Sword & Sorcery with a dash of Cosmic Horror thrown in.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had originally started reading this expecting, you know, a bit more cosmic horror. .This proved a lesson to me about making genre assumptions based on the title and author as t seems this one is more of a tribute to the "sword and sandal" pulps - and at least one a somewhat tongue-in-cheek pastiche of REH's Conan. Even HPL's Big Bad, Cthulhu, seems to be placed on par with the slug gods of the swamp and the volcano god. Readable, but nothing that hadn't been essentially done forty years before. 2.5 stars.

[Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovecraftian sword and sorcery, these feel like stories Robert E Howard would have written if he weren't such a momma's boy and lived a longer life. I blame Weird Tales for every cosmic horror writer going through a Fantasy phase.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly Sword and Sorcery rather than Lovecraftian. Disparate tales of crafty wizards and desperate heroes.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read very much (anything?) in the post-Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos vein, so I'm not sure how much of the world-building here is shared, and how much is Lumley's own creation--I suspect it's mostly the latter, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

This is a collection of very good short stories, with a framing device that posits some earlier civilization (heaps earlier, like millions of years earlier) has left supposedly true accounts of their time in a sealed contraption that could survive until now.

There is an introduction extolling the wonders of the geography of this earlier time which you will enjoy as much as you think you will (no judgement here, you may love this sort of thing or hate it, and in this case, you will then love or hate this instance of it). And then we're on to the stories, and they're great fun.

If you're iffy about weird framing devices and geographical introductions, plunge into the stories and see how they work for you. The first is good, the second better, so start there and then work outward.

If some stories seem familiar, they were apparently all published elsewhere first, but I for one am very happy they have been gathered together--they fit nicely as one unit, and I was left hoping for more--which do exist, luckily for me, as this is the first of three collections.

[Brian Rosenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Lumley's previous collections Beneath the Moors, The Whisperer and Fruiting Bodies. As a result, the House of Cthulhu was a mild disappointment. I actually think Lumley usually out Lovecrafts Lovecraft but that's not the case here. He succeeds in creating a secret history filled with waring wizards, believable barbarians, giant gastropds and more. My favorite story was Cryptically Yours (waring wizards). I'd read the other three before mentioned books before seeking this one out.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories centered on the primal land of Theem'hdra. As usual very good stuff, with the final story being the best of them all in my opinion.

[Brandon Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining collection of sword and sorcery short stories with the tiniest sprinkling of Lovecraftian elements.

[Tonya Breck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written anthology that I enjoyed. However, for the most part, it was less “lovecraftian” and more “sword and sorcery”. Luckily, I enjoy that genre as well.

[Jacob Blanchet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had high hopes for this one, but all it brought out in me was a strong desire to read Clark Ashton Smith. I know these stories are a nod to CAS (the book is even dedicated to Malygris, one of CAS’ necromancers) but they were so bland, predictable, and boring. Lumley is sorely lacking imagination in this one and his colorless writing made me sleepy. I guess compared to CAS’ poetic prose and flowery descriptions these stories seem like simple dollar store offerings.

The two stories that stood out for me were “The Wine of the Wizard” and “The Sorcerer’s Dream.” I’m gonna go read the Khash stories now, I’m hoping those will have a bit more classic S&S action (and they’re illustrated by Jim Pitts to boot!).

[Philip Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are seeking a Lovecraftian collection, this book will disappoint. What we have is more a mixture of cheap Conan the Barbarian knock-off and Grimm's fairy tales.
There also seems to be a juvenile one-upmanship going on; whereas Robert E Howard created a fiction Hyborean age (approx. 10,000 years ago), Lumley creates another fictional age which predates the dinosaurs (i.e. my primordial age is older than yours!)

The stories are unconnected fables, bookended by a contemporary narrator (who, having discovered a marvellous artefact which has survived millions of years, destroys it within hours by an act of stupid clumsiness). The tales themselves are quite entertaining, but the prose definitely follows the simplistic "this happened, then this happened" style of a child's fable.

[Panczito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nie tego sie spodziewałem. Opowiadania Lumleya w stylu Conana barbarzyńcy osadzone na wyimaginowanym kontynencie przypominającym Hyperboree Roberta E. Howarda. Najwięcej nawiązań do mitów znajduję się w tytułowym (najgorszym) opowiadaniu gdzie wielku Cthulhu spełnia rolę King Konga. Opowiadania są proste, większość z nich kończy się morałem, zapowiadają się naiwnie i już na początku każdego opowiadania domyślałem się zakończenia. Stylistyka retro swords & sorcery zadziałała na mnie wywołując nostalgie milenialsów oglądających stranger things. Jak dla mnie super! Nie polecam.

[David Bostaph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard lies Lumley. This collection of sword and sorcery uses quite a few tropes and favorites from the old Elder God and Old One pantheon to spice up the tales. Wizards, barbarians, familiars; each gets their time to shine. If you enjoy these types of stories, or if you are just a fan of Lumley, you will enjoy this collection.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Sword & Sorcery than Cosmic Horror. However, it is still quite a fun read. Good prose with some interesting characters. Highlights are the tales of the ancient wizard and his familiar and the letter exchange story.

[Justin Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a *fantastic* collection of short stories. As ever, Lumley’s melding of Lovecraftian horror, John Carter-esque pulp heroism, and all things weird, heroic, alluring, and forbidden makes for wonderfully entertaining stories. Absolutely a great collection.

[J Svedin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was not expecting the short story compilation style of this, but it worked really well!

[Carlsagansghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid collection. 4 of the stories are great, and 2 of those are excellent. I enjoyed the framing device.

[Wyktor Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent edition to the Cthulhu Mythos. A must-read for any Lovecraft fans.

[Carla Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the Dreamlands series and them referencing the Primal Lands and Theem'hrda I was expecting this novel to tie in. It doesn't it's a collection of short stories all comprising new characters all based in the Primal Lands. Some are better than others and they're mostly good but just not what I was expecting. Reading Tarra Khash :Hrossak ! next which is the second volume in the series so I'll see what that delivers.

[JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Framed as the translation of the writings of a pre-prehistoric wizard back in the dawn of history when the continent that predated Pangea was still there, Cthulhu's island of R'lyeh was still un-sunk, and humanity (or what passed for it back then) was still able to wield powerful magic, this one was a lot of fun, though I would've liked if at least the short stories had had some plot thread connecting them or at least some recurring main characters. Having said that, it's a minor gripe and I thought this was a lot of fun and obviously based on August Derleth's own story cycles of ancient civilizations, to the point that the name of the translator of the wizard's manuscripts is an anagram of Derleth's name. On to volume two.

[BCS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an older edition, looks like it was printed in 1984. Brian Lumley, writer. Jim Pitts, illustrator. Large format hardcover, yellow with black lettering, no dust jacket. Fair to very good condition. One of my favorites!

[David Agranoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of loosely connected Lovecraftian style short stories written in the style of a lost book from a previous age. Neat concept for a collection and I wanted to like it, but I kept getting bored and it took me a few days to finish this fairly short book.